Purdue Pharma Grant

NSA and pharmaceutical manufacturer Purdue Pharma LP have launched a pilot program to support training of front-line officers on the use of naloxone.

Law Enforcement and Purdue Pharma: Saving Lives, Phase II

In June 2017, the National Sheriffs’ Association (NSA) again partnered with Purdue Pharma L.P. (Purdue) for a Phase II Saving Lives project to provide free-of-charge naloxone overdose kits and training to law enforcement agencies across the country. This “rescue drug” can reverse the fatal overdose effects of some opioids, including heroin.

The Phase II project distributed 2,840 2-dose kits of naloxone (Narcan) aerosol (5,680 doses). Specifically, NSA provided naloxone kits to 53 law enforcement agencies covering 17 states. In three states, every law enforcement agency within three regions was provided with naloxone: Brazos Valley in Texas, Umatilla Region in Oregon, and all of Hennepin County, Minnesota.

Law Enforcement and Purdue Pharma: Saving Lives

In November 2015, the National Sheriffs’ Association (NSA) partnered with Purdue Pharma L.P. (Purdue) to provide free-of-charge naloxone overdose kits and training to law enforcement agencies across the country. This “rescue drug” can reverse the fatal overdose effects of some opioids, including heroin. To date, NSA has trained more than 1,000 law enforcement officers and command staff to administer naloxone. Furthermore, NSA has distributed 1,743 2-dose kits of naloxone (Narcan) aerosol (3,486 doses). Specifically, NSA has provided naloxone overdose kits to 39 law enforcement agencies covering 21 states, as outlined below. Finally, and most importantly, data collected in the project’s first 18 months document 120 lives saved. Now, 26 months into the project, we estimate that the NSA and Purdue partnership has saved more than 175 lives!

NSA and pharmaceutical manufacturer Purdue Pharma LP have launched a pilot program to support training of front-line officers on the use of naloxone. This “rescue drug” can reverse the fatal overdose effects of some opioids, including heroin.

The number of states that have enacted rescue drug laws, allowing broader access to naloxone, has doubled since 2013. These laws, first adopted by New Mexico in 2007, enable medical professionals and first responders to administer naloxone without fear of legal repercussions.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 44 people in the United States die every day from an overdose of prescription painkillers. Many of these tragedies might be prevented with the administration of naloxone. Studies of naloxone have shown it to be effective in saving lives by preventing or reversing the effects of opioid overdose, such as respiratory failure, sedation, and low blood pressure, says Daviess County, Kentucky, Sheriff Keith Cain, chairman of NSA’s Drug Enforcement Committee and an NSA board member.

As part of the NSA initiative, select law enforcement agencies will receive overdose kits to be disseminated in certain jurisdictions.

“Training and equipping deputies with naloxone is similar to putting a defibrillator, a tourniquet, or other lifesaving equipment in squad cars,” says Sheriff Rich Stanek of Hennepin County, Minnesota.

Funding for the program is made possi­ble through a $350,000 grant from Purdue Pharma.

“As first responders and leaders within our community, we must equip law enforcement with all the tools necessary to combat this epidemic, and I am proud that the nation’s sheriffs are leading this charge,” says NSA Executive Director Jonathan Thompson. “We are grateful to Purdue Pharma for supporting this NSA program and law enforcement efforts to save lives.”

“For more than a decade we’ve worked with law enforcement to combat prescrip­tion drug abuse,” says Mark Timney, CEO of Purdue Pharma. “We’re proud to con­tinue that commitment by supporting this lifesaving program.”